The lament for Eridug

A composite version from Nibru

Segment A

(beginning of 1st kirugu)

1-10.4 lines missing The roaring storm covered it like a cloak, was spread over it like a sheet. It covered Eridug like a cloak, was spread over it like a sheet. In the city, the furious storm resounded ....... In Eridug, the furious storm resounded ....... Its voice was smothered with silence as by a gale. Its people ....... Eridug was smothered with silence as by a gale. Its people .......

11-18. Its king stayed outside his city as if it were an alien city. He wept bitter tears. Father Enki stayed outside his city as if it were an alien city. He wept bitter tears. For the sake of his harmed city, he wept bitter tears. Its lady, like a flying bird, left her city. The mother of E-mah, holy Damgalnuna, left her city. The divine powers of the city of holiest divine powers were overturned. The divine powers of the rites of the greatest divine powers were altered. In Eridug everything was reduced to ruin, was wrought with confusion.

19-26. The evil-bearing storm went out from the city. It swept across the Land -- a storm which possessses neither kindness nor malice, does not distinguish between good and evil. Subir came down like rain. It struck hard. In the city where bright daylight used to shine forth, the day darkened. In Eridug where bright daylight used to shine forth, the day darkened. As if the sun had set below the horizon, it turned into twilight. As if An had cursed the city, alone he destroyed it. As if Enlil had frowned upon it, Eridug, the shrine Abzu, bowed low.

30-37. A second time the storm destroyed the city -- its song was plaintive. ...... was trampled (?). ...... intensified the lament. It cut the lock from its main gate. The storm dislodged its door. ...... It stacked the people up in heaps. ...... on its own destroyed it. It turned ...... into tears. ...... defiled ...... 1 line missing

39-47. ...... It distorted its appearance. ...... It distorted its appearance. It circled its ...... wall. It overturned its foundations. Throughout his city, the pure, radiant (?) place, the foundations were filled with dust. It cast down its ziggurat, the shrine which reaches up to heaven, into a heap of debris. The loftiness of its elevated door-ornament, befitting a house, was stripped down (?). It cut down the gate, its Great-Ziggurat-of-Heaven-and-Earth-Covered-with-Terrible-Awesomeness, its shining door, and it broke through its bolt. It ripped out its doorframe. The house was defaced.

51-57. At its lion-faced gate, the place where fates are determined, it mutilated the copse (?) forming the ornament of the house ....... Ka-hejala and Igi-hejala, the doorkeepers of the house, ....... Prematurely they destroyed it utterly. They completely altered ....... At the gate of the uzga precinct, the animal-fattener ...... the great offerings. Its birds and fish were neglected there. Destruction ....... Throughout his house, radiant (?) in silver and lapis lazuli, tears .......

58-65. The hired man and the governor ....... The festivals ...... grandly ....... Holy songs, songs of all kinds ....... The cem drum and ala drum ....... The great divine powers, all the divine powers ....... The place of the gods of heaven and earth ....... The judgment by the king, the holy sceptre at his right side, ....... The en priestess, lumah priest and nindijir priestess .......

66-73. The minister Isimud ....... Strangers to the house ...... its side. Eridug, the shrine Abzu, ...... silently. The enemy ...... cleansed in a magnificent robe. ...... a man ...... the people ....... Along with the fluids spilled from his guts, his blood spilled forth. The ......, which like the azure sky was embellished forever, ...... grasped .......

78-99. ...... distressed and anxious ...... like a pigeon ....... 1 line fragmentary The birds of the destroyed city ...... a nest. The ukuku bird, bird of heart's sorrow, ...... the place. Pain ....... The area became entangled in wild thornbushes. It ...... wild thornbushes. The Cimackians and Elamites, the destroyers, looked at the holy kettles which no one may look at. In the House of Nisaba's Wisdom, the house of understanding, ...... covered over ....... The divine powers which embellish the Abzu ....... When the holy treasures stored in the treasury were put ......, when, like a mist lying heavily on the earth, ......, they went like small birds shooed from their hiding places. 7 lines fragmentaryunknown no. of lines missing

Segment B

5-9. Because of this, Enki, king of the abzu, stayed outside his city as if it were an alien city. It bowed its neck down to the ground. Eridu's lady, holy Damgalnuna, the faithful cow, the compassionate one, clawed at her breast, clawed at her eyes. She uttered a frenzied cry. She held a dagger and a sword in her two hands -- they clashed together.

10-15. She tore out her hair like rushes, uttering a bitter lament: "You, my city whose woman does not dwell there, whose charms do not satisfy her -- where is a lament uttered bitterly for you? Eridug! You, my city whose woman does not dwell there, whose charms do not satisfy her -- where are tears wept for you? I fall like a bull in your lofty ...... falls ....... I am ....... My heart ...... queen ......." (incorporating end of 5th kirugu)

Segment C

(continuation of 6th kirugu)

1-8.1 line fragmentary ...... far away ...... the great gods. Lord Enlil, king of the lands, looked maliciously at Sumer. He demolished it. He destroyed the Ki-ur, the great place. He razed with the pickaxe all of the shining E-kur. He destroyed it but did not abandon it -- at the lunches, in his great dining hall, they call his name.

9-20.Aruru, the sister of Enlil, destroyed her city Iri-saj-rig. In Kec, the creation place of the Land, the people saw inside its holy sanctuary where daylight had been unknown. She destroyed it but did not abandon it -- at the lunches, in her great dining hall, they call her name. Lord Nanna, Lord Acimbabbar, destroyed his city Urim. He decimated the Land with famine. He committed a sacrilege against the E-kic-nu-jal. He struck at its heart. He destroyed it but did not abandon it -- at the lunches, in his great dining hall, they call his name.

21-25.Inana, the queen of heaven and earth, destroyed her city Unug. Fleeing from the E-ana, the house of seven corners and seven fires ......, she destroyed it but did not abandon it -- at the lunches, in her great dining hall, they call her name.

26. (Damgalnuna speaks:) "My beloved, who has ever seen such a destruction as that of your city Eridug!"

30-36. "Lord Enki, who has ever seen such a destruction as that of your city Eridug? Who has ever seen such a misfortune as that of the shrine Abzu, your house?" No one goes up to his offering terrace. At the lunches, in his great dining hall, they do not call his name. Enki, king of the abzu, felt distressed, felt anxious. At the words of his spouse, he himself began to wail. He lay down and fasted.

37-44. My king, you must not be distressed, you must not be anxious. Father Enki, you must not be distressed, you must not be anxious. Son of An, return your heart to your Ki-ur and your attention to your city. Living in an alien city is miserable -- return your attention to your city. Living in an alien house is miserable -- return your attention to your house. What can anyone compare with this city? -- Return your attention to your city. What can anyone compare with this house? -- Return your attention to your house. Eridug's day is long. Its night is over.

45-52. May your throne say to you "Sit down". May your bed say to you "Lie down". May your house say to you "Be rested". May your holy dais also say joyfully to you "Sit down". May your father An, the king of the gods, satisfy your heart. A person, a humble man, brings you a lament over your wife's faithful house. When he sings it before you, may that person soothe your heart. When he recites a prayer, look kindly upon him.

56-59. ...... and may he restore it for you. 2 lines fragmentary Do not hide like a criminal .......

A version from Urim (UET 6 142)

Segment A

1-5. House of princely powers, standing in mighty water -- the waters have receded from it ....... One can walk on its wide swamp. Within it grow wild thornbushes. The delightful boat Wild goat of the abzu -- the waters have receded from it; ...... its sheepfold ...... the wharf. They were Sirsir, the tutelary deity, and the man who rides the boat. At the prow ...... was hurled down in front of them. Evildoers destroyed the house, and its rites were disturbed.

6-7. At the giguna shrine, the sacred house, evildoers ....... The E-unir -- the shrine raises its head as high as heaven. Its shadow .......

8-14. At the great gate, the lion-faced gate, the place where fates are determined, evildoers ....... They set fire to its door. Ka-hejala and Igi-hejala, the doorkeepers of the house, ....... ...... Enki, at the ...... place, ...... its people. ...... the destroyed place, the Abzu ...... the powers of the Anuna gods. 3 lines fragmentary (continuation of 3rd kirugu)

Segment B

1-6.Eridug ....... City in the reedbeds ....... In Eridug, young bulls ....... Without being a marsh boar ....... Eridug, like a bull ....... The lady of the city cried, "My city ......!"